Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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18. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the fact that where a young person who is having a domiciliary care allowance payment awarded in respect of them reaches 16 and applies for a welfare payment in their own right, pending the successful outcome of that application the parent-guardian concerned loses their payment entirely, and must wait to apply for a carer's allowance payment to be successful before having key financial support restored; her views that this creates a very serious lack of support for vulnerable families during this period; her plans to help alleviate this pressure; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47092/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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In 2014 the Department will spend a total of almost €2 billion in respect of the three schemes mentioned, domiciliary care allowance (DCA), disability allowance (DA) and carer’s allowance (CA).

The review of the continued entitlement of a former DCA recipient (parent/guardian) to CA is not dependent in any way on whether the child who turns 16 years either claims or is entitled to DA. Also, it is important to note that where CA claims for former DCA recipients are being reviewed upon a child reaching 16, the claims remain in payment while the review is underway, even if the child has already reached 16.

Upon the child reaching 16 years, DCA is no longer payable. It is open to the child to apply for disability allowance (DA). In respect of CA claims for children under 16, the care requirement for the care recipient are deemed to be satisfied where DCA is in payment in respect of that child. CA must be reviewed once a care recipient reaches 16 years in order to ensure that the care requirement of the child meets the statutory conditions for receipt of CA.

There has been a long-standing process to notify DCA recipients at least 6 months in advance that DCA will stop when the child reaches 16 and that continued entitlement to CA would be reviewed. The purpose of that communication is to ensure that parents are aware of what is going to happen, their future options and to give them time to gather the necessary information. That communication also draws the attention of the parent to the potential eligibility of the child for DA.

Recently, the Department decided to review its communications with parents who are in receipt of both domiciliary care allowance (DCA) and carer's allowance (CA) for children who are reaching 16 years.

In order to ensure that the parent supplies sufficiently detailed information from the child's doctor(s) and other healthcare professionals, schools etc., the notification to the parent that issues in advance of the child reaching 16 will be revised to state the conditions which need to be met in relation to CA (which are not the same as those for receipt of DCA) and to advise them of the importance of providing the Department at the outset with full and comprehensive information on the current and ongoing care requirements of the child. It is hoped that this will reduce the number of CA cases that are stopped at first instance but subsequently reinstated upon review of additional information supplied. The Department is liaising with the groups involved as part of this review.